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APS* holds Social Entrepreneurship Series to promote BSocSc(SEDS) programme

APS* holds Social Entrepreneurship Series to promote BSocSc(SEDS) programme

30 May 2022
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The Department of Asian and Policy Studies (APS)* organised five sessions for the ‘Social Entrepreneurship Series’ in December 2021 to promote the Bachelor of Social Sciences (Honours) in Social Entrepreneurship and Development Studies [BSocSc(SEDS)], a new senior-year entry programme to be launched in the 2022/23 academic year. This series of seminars is supported by the University’s Central Reserve Allocation Committee (CRAC) Fund.

Mr Howard Ling (Left) and Dr Xiao Hanyu (Right)
Mr Timothy Ma (Left) and Dr Xiao Hanyu (Right)

Social entrepreneurship is part of a fast-growing movement that utilises business tools to tackle pressing social problems and promote social causes. To encourage social entrepreneurship, the Hong Kong Government created the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund in 2013. This mission is shared by the commercial world. Over the past decade or so, many businesses and philanthropic foundations have also founded incubators and startup funds. According to a study conducted by the HSBC Social Enterprise Business Centre (2021), the number of social enterprise projects has increased from 269 in 2007 to 659 in 2021.

Against this backdrop, APS* is thrilled to have invited six experts in social entrepreneurship to share their experiences and thoughts with our university members and prospective BSocSc(SEDS) students. They are Dr Yanto Chandra, Associate Professor from the Department of Applied Social Sciences and the Founding Director of the Centre for Social Policy and Social Entrepreneurship of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University; Mr Francis Ngai, Founder and CEO of Social Ventures Hong Kong (SVhk); Mr Swadiq Khan, Founder of Chrisly Café; Mr Howard Ling Ho-wan, MH, Chief Consultant of HKCSS Social Enterprise Business Centre and Convenor of Artificial Intelligence & Social Intelligence Alliance; Dr Norah Wang, Research Fellow of the Centre for Civil Society and Governance of The University of Hong Kong; and Mr Timothy Ma, MH, JP, RSW, FCRP, Founding Executive Director of the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association.

The series was well received, attracting over 300 participants in total. Dr Xiao Hanyu, Assistant Professor of APS* and Programme Leader of Bachelor of Social Sciences (Honours) in Social Entrepreneurship and Development Studies, said: “Social entrepreneurship is one of the most important parts of the modern social economy. We hope by organising scholarly activities like the Social Entrepreneurship Series, we can stimulate more discussions about how social enterprises can provide innovative ideas to help solve increasingly complex social problems that defy easy solutions.”

Those who are interested in the series can rewatch the sessions here.

*The Department of Asian and Policy Studies and Department of Social Sciences have been merged to form the Department of Social Sciences and Policy Studies from 1 July 2023.